Or had he? Had he really brought his acting days to an end? Had he said his last word on the cowboy?
Not at all. He had merely redone the cowboy and the Old West. In films and movies like "Absolute Power" he is the cowboy again. The man with no name, riding to the rescue, albeit it in a limo or on a motorcycle.
Saying his last word once more on the subject finally? Playing the cowboy one last time?
Not at all. He does what he has always done: He reinvented the cowboy, the Old West as only Clint Eastwood can.
This time entitled "Space Cowboys".
Anyone who knows American history knows the history of the United States space program: Only a select few who had the right stuff became the rocket jockeys who rode to the stars. And those who were meant to be the rocket riders, well. . . according to the man with no name they get what they always get in Westerns: A second chance.
Such is the premise of "Space Cowboys". Forty-two years after their flights in the X-2 rocket, forty-two years after they were passed over for monkeys, they are called into duty once more. Led by the veteran Frank Corvin (Clint Eastwood), who says he can do the job--and right this time--but only if the original right stuff guys go along.
It is a demand that is met with certain objection: I can't fill a space program with geriatrics, says space program official Bob Gerson (James Cromwell).
The clock is ticking, rumbles Frank. And I'm getting older.
Clint Eastwood, the man with no name, may be getting older in real life and reel life, but he does not seem to mind. In fact, he relishes this fact. In "Absolute Power" he tells police, when they question him about being a cat burglar, "Go down a rope in the middle of the night? If I could I would be the center of attention."
Age may be a joke to Eastwood, but it makes for an interesting plot device in "Space Cowboys". As the film opens a satellite from the former Soviet Union is hurling toward Earth and only an emergency intercept mission can solve its dilemma. Therein is a problem: The computer code on board that needs reworking is old. So old that it was the sort of thing written not by a team of computer coders but by one man.
Go To Page: 1 2
